Reed leads from start to finish

US Tour

bruced
January 20, 2014

Patrick Reed played consistent golf to win the Humana Challenge by two shots on Sunday.

Reed led the tournament from beginning to end and grabbed a cool $1 million for his 28-under final score. It’s the American’s second US PGA Tour win in as many seasons.

Reed’s effort is underlined by the fact that Rick Massengale is the only other player to have led the event from start to finish in its 55-year history. He also joins Rory McIlroy and Harris English as the only three golfers under 25 to have multiple wins on the PGA Tour.

The Texan opened up with a 63 that included nine birdies, and with consistent golf he managed to rack up two more rounds of 63. In his third round, Reed carded four eagles, including an impressive two on the par four seventh.

“You can get in trouble if you get too aggressive out here. Sundays are a little harder and I wanted to post a decent number and I did enough today,” said the 23-year-old.

Reed went into the final day with a seven-shot lead over Charley Hoffman and Brendan Todd. But it was Ryan Palmer that put the pressure on Reed with seven birdies and an eagle on the 18th.

Reed’s birdies at the second, sixth, eighth and eleventh were cancelled out by bogeys on the fifth, seventh, tenth and twelfth. His final birdie came on the par-three 15th to leave him on 71 for the round and two shots ahead of Palmer.

“I told my caddie I’m not watching scoreboards until the back nine. That’s when I would change my game plan if needed,” said Reed.

“I felt like I got off to a great start. Once I got to back nine, I kind of coasted.”

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